Colour fastness to commercial dry-cleaning using
Perchloroethylene
In this method, the colour change grade was 4 each in ground
(brown, cream) and sequins (red, pink, brown) while, it was 4-5 in the case of
self-staining method (Table 2) and the staining performance was 4-5 on all the
six fibres (Table 3) while the dimensional change after the dry-cleaning
indicated shrinkage of 0.50% in warp and 0.30% in weft. The observations made
on the appearance of the fabric after this commercial dry-cleaning, were as
follows:
- Slight colour change was observed on ground colour
(brown, cream) and sequins (red, pink and brown) with a grade of 4.
- No noticeable self-staining was observed.
- No pilling/fuzziness were observed.
- Dimensional stability of the sample is within limits i.e.,
3.0%. No abnormal shrinkage was observed and,
- Overall appearance was found to be satisfactory.
Recommendations
Based on the above studies, the recommended care
instructions of silk items that can be represented with symbol are depicted in
Table 5. In various household laundering conditions such as hand wash, machine wash,
line dry and tumble dry and the detergents used in the process are not
favourable to silk items because of excessive shrinkage and colour change and
staining behaviour. Silk fabric should be dry-cleaned in commercial process to
preserve the aesthetics and dimensional properties of the silk material.
Conclusion
The advent of new functional finishes and application of
embellishment, sequins and fancy prints have made the silk wash care issues
more complicated; but the basics remain same. Keeping the fundamentals in mind
and selecting right choice of parameters underlined in the process, dry cleaning
can be executed successfully. Useful life of silk apparel can be easily ensured
if the care instructions are respected. International brands are conscious and
concerned on this aspect while arriving at an appropriate care label. But the
ultimate care of the product lies with the consumer. Legal issues do come up
due to inappropriate care labelling of garment and result into penalty, recall
and claims.
Reproduced with permission from Indian Silk, Vol. 47, No. 1, May 2008
About the Author
The author is the Laboratory Manager, Consumer Testing
Laboratories (India) Limited Inc., Bangalore.
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